VULNERABLE her true face

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO

"Mira hide there and don't make any noise ok? No matter what just promise me that you'll stay there" A woman said as she hurriedly took her daughter to the underground basement

"But why mum? What about Elle, why isn't she coming with us?" The little girl asked with a worried look on her face.

She didn't and couldn't understand why her mum would suddenly drag her out of her room and then drag her down to the basement without explaining anything to her, seeing the panic on her mum's face and the tears she was trying so hard to prevent from falling she knew things weren't ok but what could a seven year old actually understand the main issue was?

"Mum is asking you to be a good girl and stay here and don't make any noise. Do this for mum ok? Nothing is going to happen, but just know that mum and dad loves you ok?" the woman answered kissing her hair sobbing lightly

Not knowing what else to do she just nodded her head and entered the inner basement room and locked it from inside as her mum instructed her to before rushing upstairs after kissing her and murmuring the words

"you have to stay alive Mira, you're a Hale and the Hales survive no matter what".

Staying in the dark basement was so creepy for an adult or teenager so much more a little girl like Mira. She just sat at a hidden corner she found when playing hide and seek with Elle her elder sister and hugged her knees counting her numbers in fright

Close to twenty minutes later she could hear gun shots from outside the house and she shivered in fear

Was mummy and daddy ok? Why isn't Elle here with me ran through her head as she covered her mouth with her little fingers to prevent herself from shouting, a little bit later she could hear sounds of punches and beatings then shouts from inside the mansion and she could recognize them.

That was her sister's and mum's voice before she heard a gun shot and her elder sister screaming "Mummy wake up please I'm begging you" in a fragile voice

Then suddenly the noise and commotion she had before stopped

'What happened to mummy, what about dad why couldn't he save their mummy if something was wrong' not able to hold it any longer she rushed out of the basement with her tiny legs carrying her as fast as they could to the sitting room

Hiding behind the door she saw there was nobody there except for Elle and her mum and the scene was bloody there were bruises on both her mum's and Elle's face and body and there was blood on the white cushion and tiled floor

"Mummy, Elle" she whispered crying now her mum was covered in blood, she wasn't moving and so was Elle who was gasping for breath

Looking at her seventeen years old sister who was always jovial and mischievous always pranking and troubling her in this state she couldn't take it rushing towards her she hugged her

"Elle what happened to you? Why is there blood in your cloth?" she asked in fright her small voice shaking

"Mi....r ...a" she whispered weakly trying to hold her with a shaking hand

"Thank God you're ok" before coughing out blood

"What did they do to you Elle, let me call for emergency"she replied before rushing to get her mum's phone at the dinning and then called the emergency hot line.

*********

At the hospital Mira was pacing up and down the hall with tears in her eyes and people who saw her couldn't help but look at her with pity. A little girl like her didn't need to be anywhere near there especially the emergency surgery ward. After staying for hours the doctor came out and was talking to one of his colleagues

"That girl inside the ward survived, it's a miracle after been brutally raped and shot she lost a lot of blood but she was able to fight through even though she's in a coma and it's not yet stated when she can wake up but as for the older woman we lost her as she was shot multiple times in the chest and heart" he explained shaking his head why were people heartless

"It's bad that the little girl had to experience this, she might pass through a painful trauma and I think it's best for her to be assigned to a therapist starting now until we can get hold of any of her relative" the other chipped in

"I think that's the best thing to do, but first we have to keep this incident a secret until the managing director decides what to do"

"yes we also have to file this case to the police, this is a case of murder and rape" another colleague said and they all nodded shaking their heads in pity

Mira's little brain couldn't understand all they were saying but the only thing she knew and was sure she heard was that her mum was gone, even as a little girl she has always been smarter than her age. Her sister raped and her dad was nowhere to be found.

"How could people do this to them? what did her family ever do wrong? What happened to her dad? Standing there little and vulnerable she clenched hands as she made a vow to hunt them down, all those who hurt her family and caused her this pain were going to pay dearly for it and she was going to make sure of it no matter how long it takes her and even if it was the last thing she ever did

PRESENT SCENE

Fifteen years gone but she still couldn't get over it she had no peace, the bloody scene kept hunting her down even in her dream, seeing her sister like that without been able to do any thing at all was draining her blood, running down the forest and hiding in order to avoid been killed, knife piercing her father's heart just for her to live was very unbearable, all the torture and hardships she went through kept hunting her, the killings and blood she had to shed just to live was terrifying, she just couldn't get over it at a young age she's been through hell and it was already embedded into her bones, flesh and blood, the truama, the hatred, the fear all of them.

Tossing from side to side she woke up with a start sweat all over her body she heaved a sigh and got out of bed and headed to her shower room. After having a cold shower to calm her nerves she left her room and went into her home office because she knew she wasn't going to sleep anymore and there was no need trying she was already used to it, checking the time she saw just a few minutes after one. Well that's a new one she thought raising her brow before heading to her office desk. For the first time she could sleep for three hours in a roll it was too good to be true even though she didn't care one bit about her progress.

Sitting down on her office chair she opened the drawer and took out her medicine kit, tossing a couple of pills into her mouth she drank water from the jug before opening her laptop to work on some files. Those pills were the only thing that kept her sane and alive if not she didn't know what she would have become. She has been taking them since she was nine when all the therapy she attended couldn't stop her trauma, she couldn't sleep and sometimes when she managed to she would wake up after an hour or two hours of sleep, the drugs helped her relax a bit too, well every drug had it side effect so she wasn't at all happy or sad about her progress as long as it kept her sane every other thing was minor. She massaged her hair for a while to stop her probing headache and sighed going through the documents and records that was sent to her this afternoon, after working on it for hours she chuckled and shook her head.

'Did they think she was stupid? Seems like they needed reminding' she thought as she stood up and headed towards her shelve,removing a book the wall opened and she entered, it was a secret basement that led to her underground torture house it had various cells and torture weapons, knives and tools used in scraping out blood and torturing someone.she got down to work and arranged the tools in an order of importance cleaning the bloody ones after she was done she threw the towel she used into the furnace and watched it burn shrugging before entering a room it big with all types of advanced technology weapons and communication machines at the far end was an office it was where she kept evidences and informations of people she wanted to kill and all the informations that led the people who killed her parents.

Apart from business matters she also had a lot of work piled up as she needed kill those who stood in her way and also find out those who were behind the death of her parents, that was her oath as a child and she wasn't going to back out from it no matter what.

Knowing that the family lineage/ hierarchy was large it was a very hard something to find the culprits that's if it was someone from the family who caused her parents death and also coupled with the facts that she has gotten herself a lot of enemies by killing and destroying people's business it was reliving because they didn't know what she looked like and her gender too. There were also enemies made by her parents unknowingly that wanted them dead and they were except for her sister who has been in coma since then and her who had no peace.

When she was growing up she tried to find out why her parents and sister were victims of such brutality and when she found out why it was for an unjustifiable reason. Just because they were rising to become the richest enterprise in Malaise that was why their life was wasted they weren't even involved in the underworld business but she was well too bad for the culprits they can't eliminate her like they did to her parents she was tougher than that she thought smirking as she connected a lot of wires and spoke through the intercom that was at the table

"Any news yet"

"No mam Mira but we found Mr Philip trying to trail you, ever since that transaction he hasn't been happy and has vowed to kill you" the person on the other side replied and Mira couldn't help but chuckle that old bug, he just wouldn't learn tsh tsh too bad for him

people don't learn unless pain is involved do they? She thought smirking

"How about we give him a little surprise package, I mean who doesn't like surprises especially cute ones that will leave them startled. Wrap him a surprise package but remember I don't want him dead I want him to be tormented and broken, attack his wealth and family but leave him since he wants to come to hell we can help him can't we?" She asked with bloodshot eyes massaging her temples

"Yes mam I'll convey your message to the boys"

"Ok I'll go now make sure to bring in new leads by tomorrow afternoon or you know what's gonna happen next right?"

"Yes mam"

"Wait make sure the surprise for tomorrow is juicy, I want it to make headlines tomorrow, bye from my stand" she replied and ended the intercom communication smiling mischievously as she headed back to her office

After working in her laptop and setting up the presentation she was going to be needing in the morning and arranging her office records she went back to her room to take her bath and clean up as it was a few minutes past six in the morning already. Today was going to be fun she thought chuckling

I really hope you enjoy the story and I'm not good at naming countries so it is what it is

As soon as she stepped into her bathroom she removed her clothes, opened a wardrobe which had all kinds of different expensive bathrobes with various colors and designs and picked one before walking towards her bath with it.

She immersed herself in the hot bath that was spiced with roses and enjoyed the refreshing feeling it gave her sighing heavily she hummed a song as she turned on the speakers so she could listen to it perfectly.

Been rich was nice but it had a lot of disadvantages she all the money but she didn't even have peace and always had nightmares and suffered partial insomnia, What good was that for anyone.

Thinking about her sister she sighed Elle was the one who loved this kind of things, luxury, flashy and expensive things and always forced her parents to get whatever she wanted for both of them ( Elle and Mira), she sipped a glass of wine as she thought about her family and couldn't help but wonder how things would have been if things were different

Hmmm maybe Elle would have married by now and she(Mira) would still be the spoilt brat of the house now, just thinking about it made her angry and bitter, she was going to do whatever it takes to get revenge for her sister and parents even if it means selling her soul to the devil then and only then would she have rest, she thought clenching her glass hard that it almost cracked.

After staying in the bath for sometime she got out and tied her bathrobe around her petite body and walked out of her shower room and heading for her walk in closet which was just ten walks from her shower room. After scrutinizing her closet she picked out a black jumpsuit and a dark red blazer and pencil heel to match and bringing out a black bag to match her outfit she headed towards her dressing room to change.

When she got inside she picked out a new set of undies and applied her body lotions and skin care products before changing Into her outfit. Then she went to her make up table and contemplated on a look to go for, after a while she decided to go for a natural look and then she started to work on her face when she was done with her make up she left the dressing room with her handbag and walked into her room before pressing a button. A door opened and she stepped into it before it closed leading her to the upper part of the building.

It opened and she stepped into another room which everyone including the maids assumed was her main room. She picked some of the files that were neatly arranged on the table together with a laptop before leaving the room and heading towards the dinning to eat her breakfast.

The servants served her food but not without tasting it. One has got to be extra careful since it wasn't the first time she has been tried to be poisoned smirking she ate her lobster in a ladylike manner before wiping her mouth with a napkin. Pressing a bell a maid appeared and started to clear the table while her chauffeur came and took her things to the car before they left her estate for the company. Today was going to be fun and she didn't want to miss it for the world but didn't know she was in for more suprises.

When they got a few miles before the company she instructed the driver to get down and take a cab home after giving him money, the she entered the driver's sit and rode down a secret route which lead to an underground parking lot that she developed and only she knew about it.

Well who knew who might try to tamper with her brakes. Well she wasn't going to give them that satisfaction so she needed to be extremely careful, she wasn't going to make any mistakes this time around even if she had people protecting her in the shadows. Who knows they might make a bit mistake and it would lead to her death as everyone knew humans weren't perfect but she wasn't going to do that ( make a mistake which would cause her life before fulfilling her promise), It was better safe than sorry

**********

Immediately she got down from the car she used a private elevator to get to the upper part of the building, walking into the door of the company everywhere became quite and the temperature of the room dropped down.

Everyone stumbled to their various offices in fright because of the cold and intimidating aura purging out of her

"Everyone to the emergency room and if I get there before you you can kiss your job goodbye" she shouted heading towards her private office elevator as people rushed out of their offices running towards various elevators and others taking the stairs not minding the distance because they wanted to get there in time. Well no one wanted to be fired because even though their CEO was a devil incarnate she still had it in her mind to pay them handsomely well and that was why they didn't even want to leave and well it's not like company's termination fee was something they could afford and she made sure of that, what a she devil, how come she was just twenty two, she had the mindset of an ancestor and the heart of a stone. Aren't those who are twenty two supposed to be sweet and gentle why was she different? This thought ran through their minds but no one could speak up so they held it all in, as long as you weren't in her black book you were safe.

Watching them run like that give her a sense of relaxation and sweetness in her heart, it didn't matter if they thought she was a demon as long as they fear her it was ok she thought as the elevator closed and took her to her office. That elevator was meant only for her and no one else could open it except she, technology does come in handy. It stopped directly in her office and she stepped out majestically arranging the things on her desk before pressing the intercom button on her table